Garment supporter



. LAKIN.

GARMENT SUPPORTER. AFPLICATlON FILED MN. 28, 1921,.

Patented. May 2, 1922.

FIGB.

FISE..

PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY W. LAKIN, 0F OSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

GARMENT SUPPORTER.

lSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1922.

application mea January 2s, 1921. serial No. 440,646.

Taal@ 'whom t may concern:

-Be it known that I, HARRY W. LAKIN, a citizen of the United States, residin at Boston, in Lthe county of Suffolk and tate of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Garment Supporters, of which the following is a specification. i

This l invention relates particularly to a hose supporter adapted. to embrace the wearers leg above a hose leg and tovengage the latter.

The object of theinvention is to provide a supporter of extreme simplicity, adapted to be quickl applied and removed, and to be worn wit out discomfort to the wearer, and havin hose leg-engaging means adapted to be interposed between the wearers leg and a hose leg, and to engage only the inner surface of the latter without overlapping the outer surface', the construction being such that the supporter may be made wholly of non-metallic materials, so that the supporter may contact directly with the wearers leg, withoutyliability of injury to, or infection of the leg, such as is .not infrequently caused by direct contact of metal-lic parts with the leg.

.The invention is embodied in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Y Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specificat1on,-

re 1 is a front elevation showing a- 4supporter embodying the invention applied .to a leg.

Figure 2 1s a side view showing the supporter extended.

` the/saie parts in all of the figures.

In the drawmgs, 12 represents a stripof elastic Webbn of any suitable len th. 13

represents a p ate fixed to one en of the strip, said plate and strip being adapted to form a slip-noose adapted to embrace a le 14 above the upper end of a hose le 15.

lhe plate 13 is preferably formed rom somewhat flexible flat-sided, non-metallic sheet materiahsuch as Celluloid, indurated fiber, or other suitable material, free from liabilitly to cause infection by direct contact with t wearers 1eg,'the plate being provided with a strip-guiding` orifice 16,.

through which a portion of the strip and the hose-leg-en aging device thereon may be freely threaded. I provide means for adjustably rsecuring one end portion of the strip 12 to the plate 13, so that the operative length of the strip may be varied. To this end I'form in the plate 13 a plurality vof preferably three slots 17, 18 and 19, all located between one end of the plate and the aperture 16, the slots. being parallel with eachother, and forming edges. of parallel cross bars.

As shown by Figure 3, one end portion of the strip 12 is folded across the crossbar between the slots 17 and 18. vOlne of the branches of the folded strip portion is threaded through the slot 18, and bot-h branches are threaded through the slot 19. The strip is thus fixed to the plate in such manner that it can be longitudinally adjusted, the strip being held by its frictional contact with the said cross-bars .in any position to which it may be adjusted.

One end portion of the plate 13 constitutes a transverse bar 13a, having a reentrant inner edge 13", forming the outer edge of the orifice 16. The bar 13EL is joined at both end portions to the body of, the plate and ,is thereby supported against distortion` by pressure of the strip 12 on the reentrant edge when the supporter is in use. Said orificeis oblong, and sufficiently longer than the width of the strip 12, to permit the direction of the strip to be abruptly changed in passing through the aperture, as shown b Fi' re 1, so that when the fastener is in use, t e free end portion of the strip depends from the plate. The free end portion is provided with a hose leg-engaging device, adapted to be threaded with said end portion through the lorifice 16, and to be interposed between the wearers leg and a hose leg 15, without overlapping the latter,

4said device being adapted to be engaged,v and held in engagement, with the inner surface of the hose leg` by an upward pull on thedependin portion of the strip, and being so forme that there is no objectionable rotuberance at the outer` side of the hose eg, the portion of the supporter engaged lwith vthe hose leg being wholly within the latter. I preferably embody said leg-engagjng devlce in a layer 22 of shagreen attac e ,A by stitches 23, orotherwise, to the depending portion of the strip 12. Shagreen is the dried vskin of a dog-fish -or shark, and its outer side is covered with minute closely set papillae constituting teeth 24, which are inclinedv in one directlon. I so appl the layer 22 that' its teeth 24 are incline upward from what is the lower end of the strip 12 when the supporter is Jin use.

The supporter is rendered operative by passing the free end of the strip and the layer 22 through the orifice 16 of the plate, and thus forming a leg-embracing noose, the strip being stretched until the embracing portion suiiiciently hugs the leg to prevent it from slipping downward. The depending free end portion is atthe same time stretched, and its end covered by the shagreen layer 22 is forced downward between the wearers leg and the hose leg 15, the inclined teeth 24 slipping on the inner surface of the hose leg until released, whereupon the contraction of the strip exerts an upward pull onl the teeth 24 and causes them to engage-the hose leg, the engagement being malntained by the tension of the strip 12. The shagreen layer 22 suitabl stifenslthe portion of the strip 12 to which it is attached, so that said portion and layer may be conveniently threaded through the orifice 16, and interposed between the wearers-leg and a hose leg.

The reentrant formof the edge 13b'causes l a slip-preventing engagement between the said edge and the portion of the strip 12' that is folded over the same, the fold of the strip conforming to the edge 13", as indicated by Figure'l, and being so bent that it cannot slip, to permit an enlargement of the leg-embracing portion of the strip when the supporter is 1n use.

It will be seen that the supporter shown and described is adapted to be conveniently applied and removed, has no metal parts 'l1- able to cause infection vby direct contact with the wearers skin, and as a result of the reentrant edge 13b, is not liable to become accidentally loosened on .the wearers le t rgThe union of both end portions of the cross-bar 13a with the bodyportion of the plate imparts such resistance tol pressure tending to distort the edge 13", that a plate v of suiiicient strength and durability may loemade of non-metallic material, such ascelluloid.

In m Patent No. 1,237,660, dated August 21, 191 I disclose shagreen as an element of an elastic ligature. In this application shagreen is disclosed as the preferred hoseleg-engaging element of a slip-noose hose A supporter.

-portion of the strip, and adapted to be threaded therewithl through said orifice, and

to depend from the outer edge thereof and engage a hose leg, the said transverse bar belng joined at both end portions to the body of the plate, and thereby supported against distortion by pressure of the strip on the inner edge of the said bar when the supporter is in use, the ,reentrant form of said inner edge preventing the strip from slipping on the plate when the supporter is in use. Y

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature;

HARRY W. LAKIN. 

